Desk-drawer-locking mechanism.



G. G. LOEHLBR.

DESK DRAWER LOOKING MBGHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULYQ, 1910. 996,934, Patented July 1,A 1911.

W a Q (lill ,5Min/a @Zaal/@2 f /Yuy sbl/f l f m Ne are 'I OFFICE.

GUSIAV Gr. LOEHLER, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

DESK-DRAWER-LOCKING IVIECHANISIVI.

Speciicaton of Letters Patent.

Application led July 9, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAV G. IioEHLnR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Desk-Drawer-Inocking Mechanism;and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is a controlling device for the locking mechanism of thedrawers of desks and other articles of furniture.

In flat top, pedestal, and other desks it is customary to provide asingle lock on the central or main drawer and have such drawer actuatethe locking; devices for the other drawers. In the use of desks of thischaracter it frequently happens that the lawyer or person using the deskdesires to keep valuable papers under lock and key in certain of thedrawers of the desk and at the same time allow the remaining drawersopen or unlocked for access by his stenographer or clerk. But, owing tothe arrangement of the locking means above mentioned, this cannot beeffected because when the central drawer is locked the side drawers willlock as soon as they are pushed to closed position.

'Ihe principal object of my invention is, therefore, to provide a lockcontrolling means whereby either or both of the locking devices for theside drawers may be thrown out of operation when the central drawer islocked so that the user of the desk may allow certain of the drawers toremain unlocked while the others are locked.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a lock-controllingmechanism of this character which will be simple and practical and whichmay be applied to new desks in the course of manufacture and also todesks now in use.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists ofcertain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement ofparts as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical cross sectionalview through a desk of well known form showing the application of myinvention thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2 2 ofFig. l. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. l.Figs. 4c and 5 are vertical sections taken on lines 1 4L and 5 5 ofFig. 1. Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the main or centraldrawer,ion an enlarged scale. Fig. 7 is a detail section taken on line 77 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a sectional perspective showing one of the frontcorners of the main drawer.

In the drawings, 1 denotes the main or central drawer and 2 the sidedrawers of a desk. In the form of desk illustrated the side drawers arelocked by pivoted catches 3 which engage the backs of said drawers andwhich are mounted in a well known manner on a vertically movable bar 4:.This bar slides in suitable guides and is elevated by a spring 5 wherebythe catches 3 are moved and held in retracted position. Levers 6 orother devices are provided for actuating the bars I in the direction tocause the catches 3 to engage the side drawers and such levers oranalogous operating members or elements are actuated and controlled by,inclines, cams, or other dcvices on the main drawer 1. The parts which Ihave just described are old and well known and form no part of thepresent invention. Furthermore, I wish it distinctly understood that myinvention, which I will now proceed to describe, may be applied to desksand analogous articles' having other kinds of lock mechanisms than theone above set forth.

My invention contemplates, broadly, one or more retractable controllingmembers 10 which coact with the locking devices for the side or lowerdrawers to control and actuate them, and which are movable fromoperative to inoperative position. When my invention is embodied in adesk such as the one above described the controlling members 10 haveinclined or cam surfaces 11 adapted to engage and actuate the levers 6and said members 10 are preferably mounted on the main drawer formovement from operative to inoperative position. The members 10 may beof any suitable form and construction and mounted for movement in anysuitable manner to attain the desired result, but as illustrated, Iprefer to pivot or hinge them for swinging movement. I prefer to mountthe members in this manner because when they are in upright or operativeposition they have a firm support on the rear portions of the side wallsof the drawer. As

i vbearings 16 may be provided for them. If

in longitudinal -formed 1n the side walls of the main drawer shown, themembers 10 are of substantially angular shape and they are arranged inrecessed portions of the side walls of the main or central drawer andare connected to said side walls or sides by hinges 12 each of whichlatter has one leaf secured to the drawer and -its other leaf to themember 10, see Fig. 6.

The hinge leaves that are fixed to the members 10 are also fixed totheppivot pins let so that l, when said pivot pins are moved the members10 will be actuated. If desired springs 13 may be arranged in thesehinges for moving the members 10 to their upright or operative positionbut other means for effecting the saine result may be employed ifdesired.

Any means may be provided for retracting the members 10 but when Iemploy the Ahinges 12 I preferably provide their pins or lpintles 14with inwardly extending portions .forming rock shafts 15.. The latterextend longitudinally along the inner faces of the sides of the centraldrawer 1 and suitable desired, the rods or rock shafts 15 may be setgrooves or recesses 17 and this is preferably where the invention isapplied to the desk in its course of manufacture.

The forward ends of the rods 15 may be lprovided with suitable handlesand suitable catches or fastening devices may eo-act with them forretaining the members 10 in lowered or retracted position. Asillustrated, said vends of the rods 15 have angularly projecting handles18 and the latter in turn ave finger pieces 19 whereby the rods 15 maybe readily operated. Any form of catch or lock may be used as abovestated, but, as

illust-rated, an angular spring catch 20 is secured to the inner face ofeach side of the drawer and has a hook shaped portion 21 to receive thecrank arm 18 and hold it in lowered position as will be understood onreferring to Figs. 5 and 8. The extremity of the resilient hook shapedportion 21 of the catch is inclined so that when the crank handle 18 isswung downwardly it will automatically engage the portion 21 and -at thesame time the crank handle 18 may be Vat 22. This extended rear portion22 of the bottom of the drawer unites the rear ends of the drawer sideswhich latter carry the inembers 10 and it will be seen that said part 22not only serves as a guard for the controlling members but also to givegreater strength to the drawer.

The operation of the invention will be readily understood from thedetail description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.Itwill be seen that when the controlling member 10 is in its upright oroperative position as shown on the left hand side of Figs. 1 and 2, whenthe central drawer is moved inwardly to its closed position, the incline11 of said member will engage and actuate the lever to cause the catches3 to lock the left hand side drawers. Vhen the member 10 is swungdownwardly to its inclined position shown on the right hand side ofFigs. 1 and 2 and secured in this position (by the crank engaging handle18 of the hinge rod or pin 15 engaging catch 20) and the central draweris moved to its closed position, the inclined face 11 of said member 10will not engage and actuate the coacting lever G and consequently thecatches 8 on the right hand side of the desk will remain in inoperativeposition. It will thus be seen that either one or both of the lockingdevices for the side drawers may be allowed to remain in inoperative orunlocked position when the central drawer 1 is closed and locked.

It is believed that the advantages of the invention will be readilyunderstood and appreciated by those skilled in the art and a furtherexplanation is unnecessary.

lhile I have illustrated and described in detail the preferredembodiment of my invention in a desk of well known form andconstruction, I wish it understood that I do not limit myself to theconstruction and details set forth since changes in the form, proportionand arrangement of parts and in details of construction may be resortedto within the spirit and scope of the iii-vention.

I claim:

1. In mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer, a controlling memberhaving an incline to coact with the drawer locking means and mounted formovement whereby it may be moved into operative or inoperative relationwith respect to the drawer locking means, a spring for maintaining saidmember in operative position, means for retracting said member and meanscoacting with the last mentioned means for maintaining said member inretracted position.

2. In mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer, a controlling memberto coact with the drawer locking means, a hinge uniting said member ltothe main drawer, and a rock shaft extending from the pin of said hingeand provided with an operating handle.

8. In mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer, a controlling memberto coact with said drawer locking means, a spring hinge uniting saidmember to the main drawer, a rock shaft eX- tending from the pin of saidhinge and having at its end a crank handle and a finger piece, and aspring catch on the main drawer to coact with said crank handle.

4C. ln mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer, a horizontal pivotmounted on one side wall of the latter, a vertically swingingcontrolling member having its lower portion mounted on said horizontalpivot, said member being adapted to swing from an upright positiondownwardly to an angular position with respect to the upright walls ofthe main drawer, the top of said controlling member being inclineddownwardly to engage and actuate said drawer locking means when saidmember is in an upright position and the main drawer is closed, andmeans for operating said controlling member.

5. ln mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer, a horizontal pivotmounted on the latter, a controlling member provided on its upper edgewith an incline and mounted on said pivot to swing from an uprightposition downwardly, said incline being adapted to engage and actuatesaid drawer locking means when the member is in its upright position andthe drawer is closed, means for swinging said controlling member fromits upright position downwardly7 to an in operative position, and meansfor holding said controlling member in its lowered or inoperativeposition.

6. In mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer, a horizontal pivotmounted on one side wall of the latter, a controlling member providedwith an incline and mounted on said pivot whereby it may swing from anupright position downwardly, the incline on said member being adapted toengage and actuate said drawer locking means when the member is in itsupright position and the drawer is closed, a handle for swinging saidcontrolling member from its upright position downwardly to aninoperative position with respect to the drawer locking means, a springfor actuating said member to maintain it in its upright position, and acatch co-acting wit-h said handle to retain said member in its loweredposition.

7. In mechanism for controlling the locking devices of drawers, thecombination of drawer locking means, a main drawer having the rear endof one of its side walls recessed, a substantially triangularly shapedcontrolling member arranged in such recess, the upper edge of saidmember forming a downwardly and rearwardly extending incline, a hingeuniting said member to said side wall of the main drawer whereby saidmember may swing from an upright position downwardly to an inclinedposition, the inclined upper edge of said member co-acting with saiddrawer locking means when said member is in an operative position andthe main drawer is closed, and means for actuating said member.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

GUSTAV G. LOEHLER. Witnesses:

S. C. HILL,

H. F. KELLOGG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, ID. C.

